Shattered Mirror by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

The first thing I wrote in my notes regarding Shattered Mirror was "My Twilight before Twilight." Completing my reread, I can't really say I'm wrong. The story beats are similar: girl meets vampire, they fall for each other, it's essentially doomed... but really, the similarities end there. Sarah and Christopher are both more fleshed out than Bella and Edward and the world around them is more complicated. I will also point out that Shattered Mirror was published 4 years before Twilight.

Sarah is a vampire hunter and a witch on top of that. Her family is dysfunctional as a family... Dominique is downright abusive in her quest to turn her daughters into perfect vampire hunting machines... though this is never actually "shown" "on screen." Just the story of what happened after Sarah found her father's body proves that. Sarah herself discovers that the world isn't as black and white as she thought it was.

I would explain more about Christopher's "fleshing out" but most of that would be a big spoiler, so, really best avoided in this review. He does spend most of the book leaving cringy poems for Sarah in her locker, though.

I honestly feel like Shattered Mirror moves a little too quickly. There isn't really any room to breathe. Sarah isn't really given time to sit with her changing feelings toward vampires... or at least toward Nissa and Christopher. Most of the relevant plot-info is info-dumped by the main vampires toward the end. Otherwise, it's just Sarah trying to navigate high school while not becoming too close (and failing) to Nissa and Christopher.

I think I appreciated the melodrama a lot more when I was a teenager. At my current 35-years, it's an engaging enough story with some rather terrifying implications hiding behind that YA label. 

Other Random Notes

• I was amused by the Volvo mention almost right after I noted the Twilight thing.
• I find it interesting that Sarah asserts she's know Nikolas on sight and yet runs into his twin and has nary a twinge... telling me there was a rewrite somewhere or Sarah was straight-up lying to herself.
• Another set of Southern Vampires. I highly recommend Princess Weekes' video on Confederate Vampires for understanding why I feel it needed to be noted.

Midnight Predator by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

I am fairly certain Midnight Predator was the first of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' books I ever read. If not, it's definitely the one that pulled me hook, line, and sinker into Atwater-Rhodes' Nyeusigrube universe. However, rereading it now... all the cringe.

So first, the slavery aspect. I know for a fact that I originally read this as more BDSM-coded than not. I think it is BDSM-coded, but it is definitely more than that. Make no mistake, humans are being bought and sold by vampires in this world. I'm not sure if, timeline-wise, it's gone back to a chattel-style thing, but Jaguar confirms it used to be that way. And the BDSM-coding? It's definitely a twisted version of what BDSM actually is. I think the last time I read a character using BDSM to twist his victims like Jaguar admits to doing in the past (and Jeshikah straight-up threatens to do to Turquoise), the character was a villain. That Jaguar ends up being something of a love-interest... cringe. Definite cringe.

I'm pretty sure Midnight Predator was where I fell in love with the idea of vampire hunters with organizations behind them. This doesn't exactly glamorize the idea, but it definitely planted it in my teenage head.

Turquoise definitely isn't the best representation of healthy coping. It makes sense, in this world, that the trauma she endured and escaped from would result in her chosen profession. But man, girl needs some therapy. She's not the deepest of main characters, either. Went from apparently perfect, upper-middle-class? life to slave to vampire hunter... but she has yet to have any motivations other than that. Even by the end.

So, yeah... Midnight Predator... so far in my Nyeusigrube reread, the cringey-est reread. 

Favorite Line

"A feeding vampire is as natural and simple as a wolf or lion. It's only when the human mind is in control that any creature has the desire to give pain." - Jaguar

Cainsville Overview

Cainsville by Kelley Armstrong

 

This post will contain spoilers for the entire Cainsville series, including all but one short-story and the novellas. You have been warned.

Cainsville was one of the few series in my life I managed to pick up as it was initially coming out. I followed it, apparently, right up until the last book (Rituals). I'm not sure how I managed to miss it at the time, but I did. I am happy to say that I have now finished the entire series and am mostly satisfied with how it turned out.

I was initially drawn to Cainsville because I very much enjoyed Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld/Otherworld series and because the the Fae element. I haven't read many books or series with a strong Fae element thus far so I was excited to see where all this went. I was initially happy with the amount of Fae lore dropped in among the human mystery parts of the story, though that waned as the series went on. The Fae stuff was still there, it just wasn't as present or otherwise just disappointing. Honestly, the addition of the sluagh as the over-arching "Big Bad" of the series just tanked the ending for me. The sluagh turned out to be some connecting tissue that probably could have been more fleshed out, but just wasn't. While I was kind of wondering what exactly possessed Patrick to actually father Gabriel, I wasn't going to be fussed never finding out.

If you've read my reviews, you'll also know that I'm not a fan of the romance elements. Or rather, not a fan of the love triangle stuff. I liked Ricky and Olivia together, but I'm definitely not a fan of Gabriel and Olivia being end-game. I personally feel like a more polygamous bent to their relationship would have made more sense. That's not to say strong friendships shouldn't be valued or cultivated, as Olivia and Ricky's is, just that... I dunno, would have felt neater from a story perspective. Also, I really do feel like Gabriel feels more asexual than not. I'm an very aware that, like most things and especially sexuality, asexuality is a spectrum and Gabriel definitely fits with some of what I've experienced personally with my own asexuality... just... the way his relationship with Olivia progresses feels weird to me. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, but it definitely feels like Gabriel should have been fine being the friend in this forced love-triangle thing. (I will talk more about that, I promise.) It didn't seem like he had any romantic feelings in Olivia's direction until the plot and the ghost of Gwynn demanded it. I'm just not a fan of how that all worked out.

So, speaking of Gwynn... I'm also not a fan of how this ridiculousness for coded into the Fae storyline. We've got the Tylwyth Teg vs the Cŵn Annwn. Gwynn vs Arawn over the affections of Matilda. That's the whole impetus for the entirety of Cainsville, ultimately. Welsh Fae nonsense, basically. (I say that affectionately, really.) So, basically, back in ye olden times, before humans were in any sort of power in Wales, this Fae Prince of the Tylwyth Teg (Gwynn) and the Lord of the Underworld, Leader of the Cŵn Annwn (Arawn) make a pact not to try and win the affections of their mutual friend who has blood from both their lineages (Matilda). Really, in the text, it's Arawn who decides this needs to be a pact and Gwynn just goes along with it for... reasons? They do not tell Matilda about this pact. Later on down the line, Matilda makes her affections for Gwynn clear to him and they plan to marry, but do not breathe a word of this to their "bestie" Arawn... for reasons? Arawn finds out at pretty much the last minute and confronts Gwynn about their "pact." Arawn decides to tell Gwynn that if Matilda comes to him on the night before their wedding, she's now Arawn's. A new "pact" is formed, apparently. They tell Matilda none of this. Gwynn does not try to stop her from going to Arawn. Weird magic happens and not only does Matilda lose Gwynn and the Tylwyth Teg, she dies. Neither man gets what he wanted... and they are now doomed to reincarnate over and over to replay this nonsense. Whoever the Matilda chooses, gets her magical power for that generation... or something. That part was a little unclear. Also unclear exactly why a two-way split couldn't just work, even though that's what ends up happening at the end of the series. What is very clear is that Arawn is an asshole.

So, Olivia is the Matilda, Ricky is the Arawn, and Gabriel is the Gwynn of this generation. Olivia is told by the Cainsville elders that she must choose which of these men she's going to be with because weird magic nonsense. This three-some is unhappy about this and basically end up dithering until a weird third-party magic "race" (the sluagh I mentioned earlier) enters the fray in Rituals. Oh, and neither the Tylwyth Teg nor the Cŵn Annwn want to give Olivia and information about themselves until she decides to let them start courting her. Again, this whole thing could have been solved by a "Persephone solution" as Olivia puts it... and is, at the very end.

But yeah, I'm not at all salty about any of this. And to be clear, none of this made me not enjoy the story. I did enjoy the ride... mostly. I think the whole situation is very silly and obviously spawned by an idiot teenager. This is in the text of the books, by the way, I'm not making that bit up. Arawn was an idiot teenager at the time the original "pacts" were made. It's just amazing they got turned into such a big thing, magically speaking.

Outside of the Welsh Fae stuff, there is a bit of outside Fae stuff. Greek Fae, to be precise. Lamiae and Dryads make an appearance. I very much liked the inclusion of something other than Welsh Fae. Wish there had been more. I'm pretty sure the Cainsville series wouldn't really have supported adding in more mythologies, given how insular Cainsville itself is, but... eh. That's me with my global mythology interest wanting what I can't have.

I liked the original spooky supernatural mystery vibe of Omens. That definitely drew me into the series. However, that vibe definitely decreased as the series went on. Olivia did very little omen-sensing after Omens. That ability was largely discarded in favor of visions, granted by some kind of generational Fae memory. The love-triangle thing took center stage, even with the "mystery of the book" happening outside of it.

I did this read-through chronologically, as I've been doing with series lately, and I feel like the short stories did add something to the overall series. However, the novellas were largely just a revisiting of the characters and their emotional states. With the short stories, we got looks at characters outside of the whole "Matilda" thing but still within the realm of the Fae/human interbreeding and what can happen with that. We got a glimpse of Patrick pre-Omens, Gabriel's childhood, and what TC was up to. I quite enjoyed these short stories. The novellas... I could honestly reread Cainsville quite happily leaving them out. As I've said before, they really just rehash Oliva and Gabriel's feelings on what they're going through and have been through. The last two, while slightly interesting in that they explore a bit of what happens after Rituals, don't really bring much to the table, in my opinion.

I realize a lot of what I've discussed here sounds quite negative. It probably is. However, Cainsville is quite well done overall and entertaining to boot. I really do enjoy it. I just have a heavy eye-rolling kind of feeling toward certain elements... obviously. I wouldn't have so much to say if Cainsville was boring, after all.

Very last note: The novellas include some art depicting certain scenes contained within them. They're... interesting. Mostly okay, but honestly, they make Olivia look a couple decades older than 24. I also don't think the illustrations really add anything to the stories.

Cruel Fate by Kelley Armstrong

Honestly... I was bored through most of this. Most of the character stuff was just rehashing things that had already been "taken care of" earlier in the overall narrative. The mystery was just kind of "bleh." There was no way Todd was going to end up back in jail after pretty much the entire Cainsville series was so focused on him getting out. Even the Fae stuff was just "meh."

Rough Justice by Kelley Armstrong

Rough Justice was an alright mystery story. Fairly twisty. Just kind of "whatever" for me, though. I wasn't at all invested in it, or either mystery, really. The mysteries take place firmly in the human world and that's honestly just boring to me.

I was much more interested in Olivia's Cŵn Annwn scene at the beginning than anything else in this novella. I've always been much more invested in the fantasy parts of the Cainsville novels, so this was really no surprise to me. Getting to "see" a Hunt was fun. It was a disappointingly short bit of the overall story, though.

I'm still not super into or really buying Gabriel and Olivia as a couple. Gabriel definitely reads more asexual to me than anything else, even despite his attraction to Olivia. They definitely work better for me as friends and business partners. The romance spark just doesn't feel like it's there.

Rituals by Kelley Armstrong

I have reached the "official" end of the series... still got two more novellas to go, but Rituals marks the end of the main series. It was quite the ending... threading in some little loose ends rather deftly, all things considered, while at the same time throwing in an ultimate Big Bad for the series that was apparently there all along, just not as overt as the Tylwyth Teg and Cŵn Annwn. The sluagh, a semi-interesting addition that really drove the plot more than anything else.

I'm not sure I really agree with Olivia's decision of "mates" in the end. Of course, I also didn't really think Kelley Armstrong was going to go the polycule route, either. Still... I think I'm just gonna make that my head-cannon. Olivia chooses who she chooses for the sake of the plot but they end up in a polycule down the line because that just makes more sense to me. "Stick together" is much easier in a modern relationship than it would have been between the kingdoms of Gywnn and Arawn.

I really, really enjoyed the addition of Helia and Alexios. They were a lot of fun and added a much-needed breath of levity. I was half-expecting them to be the solution to the sluagh's, uh... spoilery thing it turned out the sluagh were responsible for... but... yeah. They were fun.

I'm glad we finally got an answer as to what exactly's going on with Grace's apartment building. I liked that addition to the lore. Liked most of the additions to the lore. They were very well done and satisfying overall. Oh! I almost forgot about Lloergan! I'd hoped we'd get more of her, and we did. Even a pronunciation guide to her name... though you won't catch me trying to say it anytime soon. Didn't even stick after reading it a few times. But anyway, Lloergan was very sweet and her presence very welcome.

Seanna's reemergence I could honestly take or leave. She was a puzzle piece, ultimately. One that felt a little shoe-horned in, if I'm being completely honest, but... yeah. I suppose I was just as curious as anyone as to why she seduced (or whatever) Patrick all those years ago and we did get that answer... but she was very "meh" as a character, all told.

Rituals was a satisfying ending to the Cainsville series. I like that it's ultimately open to additions, as with the pair of novellas I'm about to read... and, ultimately, I'm just glad to not have to read more of the love triangle thing. Persephone would be proud, I think.

Favorite Lines

"Right or wrong, one cannot argue with the excitement value of a good murder, because it leads to a good mystery." - Helia

"Adventure comes with risk or it would hardly feel adventurous." - Helia

"We love traps. They're like puzzles, only with higher stakes." - Olivia Taylor-Jones

Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong - 2024 Reread

Reread Review

So, yes. I am still very, very annoyed with the love triangle aspects of this story. I think Ricky's "solution" to this at the end of the book is a good one. Definitely leaning more into a polycule solution, which is honestly the one I would prefer. I know, I know that main Fae interest in Olivia and the boys is exactly this love-triangle thing and the choice, but I'm really more invested in the lore and mystery aspects of the series than I am the romance.

Much of Betrayals focuses on Gabriel's developing feelings for Olivia and his thought processes surrounding that. I honestly had very little patience for Gabriel this time around. I understand his trauma a lot more due to the short-stories and novellas that have been added to the chronology, but... he should have taken his own thought-advice more often than not. I'm a big believer in communication and that's something Gabriel just tends not to do. It's immensely frustrating, which we definitely see through Olivia's reactions to that non-communicative nature of his.

I had completely forgotten the Hound stuff, despite apparently really enjoying it last time. I did enjoy it this time around. Looking forward to finally finishing the series and seeing if we do, indeed, see more of Lloergan.

I really enjoyed the further world-building around what is and isn't considered Fae. I always enjoy when other mythologies are included in this sort of thing, because there are mythological critters everywhere in the world, not just the British Isles. I definitely liked getting some more on the Cŵn Annwn.

A am apparently repeating myself from 2018 (which I did not reread before typing this out), so I think I'll just end this here. I largely liked Betrayals but I'm really, really hoping we can just finish this love-triangle stuff without boring me to death. Can't wait to finally find out.

2018 First Read Review

Favorite Lines

     "What's their purpose" I asked as I stood.

     "Children? No idea. It appears to be simply an inconvenient stage between birth and usefulness."

     "I mean the gargoyles," I said. - Olivia Taylor-Jones & Patrick

"Life is a sightseeing tour." - Olivia Taylor-Jones

The Customer is Always Wrong by Scott Seiss

Relatable AF. I really like Seiss' humor and the realness that is showcased here. Having seen his content online, I knew I was probably going to enjoy his book, which I was correct about. There are rants that are lifted directly from his videos. I couldn't give you an exact number as I haven't seen all his videos, but I did recognize a bunch.

But yeah, pretty good overall.

Favorite Lines

"No need for paternity leave, as I've opted to raise children like a gecko and abandon my babies at birth."

"What in the emotional labor is this?"

In Other News

I finished my Snowy Owl OviPets project! They are part of my "Literary Creatures" project line as they appear in that series we don't mention anymore and the Guardians of Ga'hoole series and probably others as well. These guys took almost exactly 11 months to complete.

Lost Souls by Kelley Armstrong

So, the main story line of Lost Souls gets and A+ from me. The mystery is a good one, folding in possibly unknown lore with the Fae stuff. I like how it went, I like how it was resolved.

However, I honestly found Gabriel's treading or re-treading of his insecurities involving Olivia really quite tedious. I get that he didn't have a great childhood. I get that he didn't learn how to make friends. I get that Olivia is literally the first relationship of any kind he's had to forge by himself. Fantastic. I wanted him to tell her all of that as a way of explaining the awkwardness that tends to happen between them from his end. I know she knows about Gabriel's horrible childhood at this point, but I'm not sure she knows or even thinks about what that might have truly done to his social skills. Some sort of explanation from him would have done wonders, I think.

I don't particularly enjoy yelling at a book or rolling my eyes over the utter lack of communication going on between characters. Gabriel is a very insular character and it's ridiculously frustrating to "watch," even if the rest of the story is pretty good.

Favorite Line

"He's a matagot. He understands me just fine."

     "He's also a cat. Which means he doesn't care." - Patrick and Grace

Illuminations by T. Kingfisher

First and foremost: I really enjoyed Illuminations. It was a sweet and cozy fantasy with stakes that were relatively low but also quite high at the same time. I liked the characters. I liked the concept. It was fun.

There’s a heavy theme of “stronger together” running through Illuminations. Though the Mandolinis have a tendency to work separately, they are drawn together to defeat the Scarling. (Pardon the pun.) Rosa doesn’t work as well in her quest to do just that all by herself. It isn’t until the family is brought in to help that any actual headway is made. It’s quite beautiful, really. That’s not to say that Mandolinis aren’t allowed to be themselves, each of their attributes makes the whole stronger overall.

Illuminations, though geared toward a younger audience than my 36 year old self, never felt like it was talking down to that audience. Complicated things were allowed to stay complicated and weren’t ever dumbed down. Rosa feels like a 10 year old should. The characterization was done well.

Each of Rosa’s family members feels like an entire person, despite having relatively little “screen time.” Payne reminded me of the Magpies from Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. It’s probably just that he’s a talking Corvid.

I like the magic system. I’d very much like to get my hands on those Illumination guides.

So yeah, Illuminations was fun and sweet and cozy. Very much enjoyed.

Favorite Line

“Spoons like to be with other spoons,” said Payne. “They feel more comfortable in a herd.”

Portents by Kelley Armstrong

Portents should probably be read after you’ve read the main Cainsville series as it does contain story spoilers. Probably best to add it in, as I did, chronologically on a reread. Or just enjoy the stories on their own. I can’t tell you what to do.

So here we run into another problem I, personally, have with anthologies: stories published in multiple books. I purchased Led Astray: The Best of Kelley Armstrong for my Women of the Otherworld read through two years ago. I was initially pleased to encounter a few of the stories I would need to complete a Cainsville read through. This year, I purchased Portents and… the first three stories were the ones in Led Astray. Not really a giant deal, as I’ve got more to read anyway, but I’m still annoyed about it.

I read everything in Portents except the Lost Souls excerpt, because I believe Lost Souls is the next book in my chronological read-through anyway.
 

"The Screams of Dragons": I was not expecting that to be as seriously dark as it was. Just… wow. Even after the child abuse from Bobby’s grandmother, I was not expecting… wow. This was very well done.

"Devil May Care": I’m not sure how I feel about this one. Not entirely sure I needed Patrick’s side of Gabriel’s backstory, though I do like Patrick as a character. Also, this one is definitely one to read after reading the main Cainsville series, as Patrick’s role in things is a mystery to Olivia and Gabriel.
 

"Gabriel’s Gargoyles": Cute, if also somewhat maudlin. Gabriel’s childhood was not the best. I was not expecting a cute Gabriel story, to be honest. 

“Bad Publicity”: Exciting. Now my interest is more piqued about how useful “Gwynn” is outside of Cainsville and the purpose he has there.
 

"The Orange Cat”: I really liked the way this was told. Felt noir-ish to me. Also, gotta love a determined cat.
 

"Matagot”: Eh, it was alright. Another little piece to the puzzle I’m not sure really needed to be there… does explain a bit about TC and how he got stuck in the Carew House, but… also included another retelling of the Matilda thing, so that was less interesting.

"Lady of the Lake": This was interesting. I feel like Liv and Ricky are a little too comfy casually discussing the Fae stuff for when this is timeline-wise. However, it was actually fun to get the pair of them without any drama involved. The mystery here was also well done. I, too, was fooled by the puppy. Not sure where it was going after that, but I was definitely fooled.

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft

My first DNF of the year. I was just not into Senlin Ascends. I found too much of the story just straight-up confusing and I really didn't care about any of the characters. The setting was kind of interesting... The Market reminded me a lot of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. The Parlor was my idea of Hell, to be completely honest. That's really where the first bout of confusion set in, too, so it didn't help. The Baths were meh. I kind of liked the heist that Senlin had to pull off, but, again, didn't really care about the characters so... yeah. Got to New Babel and several chapters into Senlin's plan an preparations before I decided to call it quits. Just felt like banging my head against a wall.

The concept: great. Execution: not to much, in my opinion.

Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs

Winter Lost was somewhere between filler and a romp, mostly. It was definitely good filler/rompy goodness. The stakes were ultimately really high, but I wasn't ever really worried Mercy wouldn't solve the problem. That's what she does, after all. I honestly feel like Winter Lost had one problem to actually solve and the rest of the story was just getting Mercy to a place where the solving could happen. (Slight spoiler in the second-to-last paragraph, just btw)

As usual with the Mercy series, I really loved the interweaving of mythologies. It makes total sense to me that beings that have been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years would know each other and probably even be friends.

I also loved the bits of character development we got outside of Adam and Mercy. I definitely didn't remember Mary-Jo's love-interest, but it was nice to get a slice of her life and flesh her out a little more. We didn't really get a lot out of Darryl's bit of story, but Sherwood and Warren's bit had me laughing. Gotta love these little, low-stakes vignettes where characters we don't normally "see" interact do so.

The stuff at the lodge was vaguely interesting, but I spent most of that going "there's not that much book left," over and over to myself. The characters there were mostly just... whatever. They were there. The mystery wasn't that deep and kind of deus ex machina'd away thanks to whatever Mercy's damage was from Soul Taker... which was a lot more serious than I remembered, so I guess that was fun? Eh. The point was really to get Grandmother to "fix" Mercy's main, most pressing issue so... yeah.

Winter Lost was not that deep, but it was fun. Was a nice break from my read-through of Kelley Armstrong's Cainsville series where everything is super serious.

Favorite Lines

"Fine. When they shovel our frozen corpses out next spring, they can put 'They thought it would be fun' on our gravestone." - Mercy Hauptman

"Are you embarrassed that your audiobook started in the middle of a very hot sex scene between three men in a swimming pool?" asked Sherwood politely. "There's not reason to be embarrassed about that."

"Saddest thing in the world is listening to nineteen minutes of a twenty-minute sex scene," said Sherwood in a mock-mournful voice.

"Locks only ever keep out people who aren't determined to come in," - Grandmother Spider